1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a corrugated protective sleeve for enclosing lengths of conducting equipment, such as cables, wiring and tubing, and more particularly, to a corrugated plastic sleeve adapted to have male and female locking members located along first and second longitudinal edges which allow the corrugated plastic sleeve to be closed upon fully inserting the male member within the corresponding female member.
2. Description of Related Art
Many protective tubular enclosures having longitudinal points of attachment are known. Generally, the tubular enclosures include sheets of material wrapped around elongated objects such as wiring, cables or other forms of tubing which are closed along the longitudinal edges to provide a sealed environment for the object or objects contained therein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,895,133 which issued to Quarnstrom on Jan. 23, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 2,067,665 which issued to Holt on Jan. 12, 1937; U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,259 which issued to Kennedy on Dec. 7, 1971; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,976 which issued to Plummer on Jul. 31, 1990 all disclose various designs of tubular enclosures, however, none of the aforementioned patents disclose the use of corrugated tubing having male and female locking members. Furthermore, the known patents which disclose corrugated tubular enclosures such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,787 do not disclose tab and detent locking between with the male and the male locking member.
Accordingly, it is the primary object of the present invention to provide a corrugated protective sleeve which is capable of enclosing relatively long lengths of conducting devices.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a one-piece corrugated protective sleeve which is selectively openable and closeable.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a corrugated tube which is closeable and may be permanently sealed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a corrugated protective sleeve which is readily producible at a relatively low cost.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a simple and inexpensive method of producing the corrugated tubing of the present invention.